MINNEAPOLIS – It will be two weeks and a day before Indiana plays competitive football against another Big Ten program again, and that’s probably for the best.

IU is desperate to outrun the performance it now must spend its bye week recovering from, a 38-31 loss at Minnesota that included a first-half defensive collapse, at least two potentially crucial defensive injuries, a furious 22-point fourth-quarter rally and a one-play implosion just when an improbable win seemed possible.

This is IU football for the past 25 years. Longer in the eyes of some fans. Manic and passionate enough to refuse to lose hope. Sloppy and undisciplined enough to dig the hole for itself in the first place. Only just capable enough to climb out of that hole, before slipping and falling back in.

Now, the Hoosiers (4-5, 1-5 in Big Ten) get 15 days to reset, and try to exorcise the inconsistency (among other things) that right now looks like it’s going to torpedo a once-promising season.

“We just need to press the refresh button, let guys heal, let guys recover a little bit and just get our minds right,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Peyton Ramsey said. “I think this team is different. I really do. Obviously, we’re not walking away with the outcome in this game that we want to, but I think this team is different, and I think there’s a mindset on this team that understands that there’s three games of football left to play, and there’s still a lot to play for.”

Perhaps it’s fair to wonder, with respect to its starting quarterback, whether this team is playing for more than just this year now.

There are fair questions to ask about Indiana right now. Tom Allen’s job security? Firmly not among them. Fred Glass’ stewardship of the program? Also firmly not among them.

Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey slides to stop the play during an NCAA college football game against Minnesota, Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, in Minneapolis. Minnesota won 38-31. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)(Photo: Stacy Bengs, AP)

It’s alright to let frustration guide discussion to a point — and Friday night engendered plenty of both — but we’re talking about a second-year coach recruiting better than any of his predecessors, and an athletic director who has invested millions of dollars into his football program.

Could Glass invest more? Absolutely. Does Allen need to address penalty issues, defensive lapses, a too-often-blunt offense and a team that, more generally, seems shy when the stakes are highest? Yes.

Those are the fair questions to ask. And the reason Indiana’s next four weeks are so important is because the answers to those questions could resonate beyond this season.

CLOSE

IU Insider Zach Osterman recaps a 38-31 loss at Minnesota, a wild game and perhaps as tough of a defeat as the Hoosiers have taken this season.
Zach Osterman, zach.osterman@indystar.com

Indiana is a young team. That’s not an excuse. It’s a reality. Indiana starts freshmen and sophomores at key spots in all three phases, and some of the juniors and seniors it counts on don’t have lengthy resumes.

This season shouldn’t be viewed as a rebuild. The Hoosiers are too talented for that. Fans have every right to be disappointed in the direction 2018 has turned, especially after such a promising start.

But Bryant Fitzgerald will be back next year. Stevie Scott will be back next year. Nick Westbrook, Peyton Hendershot, Reese Taylor, Ty Fryfogle, Whop Philyor, Devon Matthews, Marcelino Ball, Cam Jones, Haydon Whitehead, Coy Cronk, Ronnie Walker, Reakwon Jones, Thomas Allen, Andre Brown, A’Shon Riggins, Raheem Layne and Jaylin Williams will all be back next year, or at least will have eligibility remaining.

All those players? They’re also part of a team that’s lost four in a row this season, and now sees its once-encouraging postseason hopes hanging by a thread.

These Hoosiers are emphatic — they want to be the group that changes the perception and the course of this program. That has to start right now, because habits, good or bad, are being developed that can be desperately hard to break.

Indiana coach Tom Allen gestures during an NCAA college football game against Minnesota,, Oct. 26, 2018, in Minneapolis.(Photo: Stacy Bengs, AP)

It could have started Friday night, when a shocking defensive start handed Minnesota a 21-9 halftime lead. Down to one healthy scholarship quarterback, the Golden Gophers (4-4, 1-4) rolled up 260 yards of offense on Indiana in the first two quarters, including 203 through the air.

The Hoosiers struggled to finish drives offensively, settling for three midrange field goals. They struggled to excel at anything defensively in the opening 30 minutes.

“Just didn’t necessarily match their energy in the beginning,” Allen said. “We don’t have a lot of margin for error. We have to play at a fever pitch every time we take the field. If we don’t, it shows.”

Yet his team found the mettle for a fourth-quarter rally. Ramsey opened up the passing game with touchdown throws of 37 and 43 yards, and suddenly conservative Minnesota turned the ball over enough to bring the Hoosiers all the way back.

When the Gophers stumbled on their first drive after IU tied the game at 31-apiece, Indiana had its chance to be that different team Ramsey described. The Hoosiers promptly went three-and-out.

On the first play of Minnesota’s next drive, the Gophers threw a double move at redshirt freshman safety Juwan Burgess on play action. As soon as Allen saw Burgess bite, he knew Indiana was in trouble if the pass wasn’t overthrown.

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“Young guy got beat on a double move,” Allen said. “Juwan did some great things. I thought he really grew up tonight in a lot of ways. But they caught him on it.”

Burgess, like so many of his aforementioned teammates, offers a potentially bright future for this program. He was once committed to Southern Cal before switching to IU, one of several Tampa-area prospects to come to Bloomington out of Florida. He sat out last season but has featured prominently this fall, and in the worst way he could probably imagine Saturday.

IU’s bye comes late this year, with just three games remaining. In theory, the Hoosiers can still reach bowl eligibility by winning two of those three, and two (Maryland and Purdue) are at home.

This is also a team that will be more than a month without a win by the time the Terrapins come to Memorial Stadium Nov. 10.

Ramsey said he believes this team different from Indianas of the past. Friday night offered a premium opportunity to prove that. The Hoosiers wasted that opportunity.

Now they get two weeks to rest, recover and fix the myriad issues that have led to this month-long slide. With a young team desperate to change its fortunes, but still grappling with the same demons as those that came before, what Indiana can — or can’t — do with the rest of its 2018 season could reverberate far beyond this fall.